Stalker case transferred

Stalker case transferred

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Georgia judge has transferred the misdemeanor case of a 53-year-old man accused of trying to stalk Miley Cyrus to a court that handles felony cases, indicating prosecutors are looking at stiffer charges.

Mark McLeod’s attorney, James Byrne, said Friday that prosecutors are trying to keep his client in jail without evidence that he’s dangerous.

Police say McLeod, who lives about three hours from Georgia’s Tybee Island, traveled there in June and August looking for 16-year-old Cyrus as she filmed a movie. He faces misdemeanor charges including attempted stalking.

A state court judge transferred the case Wednesday to Superior Court.

British writer dies

LONDON — British writer Keith Water-house, a raconteur and wit whose works include the enduringly popular novel “Billy Liar,” has died at age 80.

Waterhouse’s family said he died peacefully in his sleep early Friday at his London home. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Waterhouse had his first major success in 1959 with “Billy Liar,” the story of a funeral-parlor worker who escapes into a world of fantasy. It became a hit 1963 movie starring Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie and spawned a television series.

Waterhouse also helped write some of the best-known British films of the 1960s, including “A Kind of Loving” and “Whistle Down the Wind.”

Today’s birthdays

Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 80. Actor George Lazenby is 70. Actor William Devane is 70. Actress Raquel Welch is 69. Actor Michael Keaton is 58. Drummer Jamie Oldaker of The Tractors is 58. Actress Debbie Turner-Larson (Marta from “The Sound of Music”) is 53. Singer Terry Ellis of En Vogue is 46. Drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine (and of Audioslave) is 41. TV personality-musician Dweezil Zappa is 40. Actress Rose McGowan is 36. Actor Skandar Keynes (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) is 18.